PepsiCo in first ESG Summary since PepsiCo Positive (pep+)

By Becci Knowles
PepsiCo CSO Jim Andrew “proud” as Summary details progress across three pillars of pep+ - Positive Agriculture, Positive Value Chain and Positive Choices

PepsiCo has published its first Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Summary since the launch of PepsiCo Positive (pep+). Launched last year, pep+ is embedded in every part of PepsiCo’s business with targets in areas that include sourcing crops and ingredients in more sustainable ways that strengthen farming communities, building a circular and inclusive value chain and inspiring people through its brands. 

To chart the progress of its ambitious goals, PepsiCo has evolved its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting, from its prior Sustainability Reports to its first ESG Summary. The report details the company’s sustainability ambitions and progress with real-world examples of how PepsiCo’s brands, people and scale are creating measurable positive change.

Chief Sustainability Officer, Jim Andrew comments: "PepsiCo's commitment and action to create a more sustainable and resilient food system is unwavering and we are proud of the progress that we have made in 2021 toward our new and updated pep+ goals.” 

The aim, says Andrew, is to decouple so the business can grow sustainably, while decreasing environmental impacts. “There is still much more work to be done and we cannot do it alone so we – in partnership with our value chain partners, communities, NGOs and government leaders – will continue investing in action, innovation and partnerships that enable us all to realise a more sustainable future."


Sustainable progress made


In terms of Positive Agriculture, the Summary reveals that PepsiCo has helped to spread the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across more than 345,000 acres – progress toward its goal of seven million acres, the approximate equivalent of the company’s agricultural footprint, by 2030.

PepsiCo has also supported the livelihoods of female farmers and rural communities via initiatives such as the $20 million USAID partnership to develop women-led enterprises and the $2 million Next Generation Agriculture Fund with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), to demonstrate the impact of gender-smart solutions along its agricultural supply chains in Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Guatemala. These programmes mark initial action towards a new pep+ goal to improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people in PepsiCo's agricultural supply chain and communities, including by economically empowering women.

With a target of improving water-use efficiency by 25% in high water-risk areas by 2025, the company reports reaching 18% improvement1 (against a 2015 baseline) and has replenished more than 6.1 billion litres of water back into local watersheds in 2021. In addition, PepsiCo continued to advance safe water access globally to more than 68 million people since 2006, with a goal of reaching 100 million people by 2030.

When it comes to supporting associates, in the U.S., PepsiCo increased Black managerial representation to 8.3 percent and Hispanic managerial representation to 9.5 percent, as the company works to achieve 10 percent representation for each by 2025. Additionally, the company has achieved 43 percent of women in managerial roles against the goal of 50 percent globally by 2025.

And in the efforts to inspire people to make positive choices, four years ahead of schedule, in 2021, PepsiCo attained its saturated fat reduction goal of 75%2 of the company’s convenient foods portfolio not exceeding 1.1 grams of saturated fat per 100 Calories (based on the top 23 convenient foods markets). The company made headway on sodium reduction targets with 66%3 of PepsiCo’s convenient foods portfolio not exceeding 1.3 milligrams of sodium per Calorie. And 53% of the company’s beverage portfolio (in the top 26 beverage markets) now has less than or equal to 100 Calories from added sugars per 12oz. Serving.

The digital 2021 ESG Summary was designed to link seamlessly with PepsiCo's ESG Topics A-Z, an evergreen deep-dive on PepsiCo's approach and progress for roughly 50 sustainability-related topics. In addition to ongoing transparency in reporting, PepsiCo will continue to publish its ESG Summary annually.


About Jim Andrew

Jim Andrew is Executive Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo. He joined PepsiCo in 2016 and currently leads pep+, PepsiCo’s holistic transformation agenda with sustainability at the centre, including the strategic framework, governance, and integrated plans and goals for all of PepsiCo. He also ensures that sustainability is woven into the operating plans of all Business Units. 

Prior to this role, he held a variety of operating and functional leadership roles in the company including global head of Strategy and leader of our Beyond the Bottle businesses. Previously, Mr. Andrew served as EVP and chief strategy and innovation officer for Royal Philips N.V based in Amsterdam where he played a central role in the transformation of Philips from a conglomerate to a focused and high-performing health tech company. He had leadership accountability for all elements of strategy and innovation, as well as sustainability and the company's digital transformation. 

Andrew also served as the chief administrative officer of Sears Holdings Corporation.

Andrew started his career at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), leaving as a senior partner after a distinguished 25-year career. At BCG, he established and led the firm’s Innovation practice for almost a decade, and was lead author of the highly-acclaimed book Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation. He opened the firm’s offices in Mumbai India and Singapore.

Andrew earned his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Illinois and his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Mr. Andrew is based in Purchase, N.Y

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About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complimentary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lays, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.


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